Brough wins by largest margin that I can remember - posted by Graham

When there's a serious contest for Queensland Liberal Party President it generally ends up being a close-run thing. Not this time. Mal Brough won 309 votes to Greg Spence's 152. That's 67% of the vote. Not only that, but he... More

Early signs good for Brough - posted by Graham

It looks like Brough might win the Liberal Party presidency. He and his supporters have won every vote that counts so far this morning. First was the decision whether to exclude 30 or so delegates from the Centenary branch (there... More

Internal criticism of the Liberal National Party Constitution - posted by Graham

According to the proposed Liberal National Party Constitution "No Member shall make any statement or comment, either on or off the record, to any journalist or media organisation about the affairs of the party without the prior approval of the... More

A constitution that makes some sense - posted by Graham

I'm still ploughing through the proposed Liberal National constitution, and I'm not sure that the National Party know what they're letting themselves in for. A number of the features that make the Liberals prone to branch stacking are present, albeit... More

Green entrepreneurs can be the best activists - posted by Ronda Jambe

Several groups in Canberra are now going through strategic reviews. One is the SeeChange group, which grew out of the Nature and Society Forum. The other is ACT Peak Oil. Both have websites, if you care to look them up.... More

Boticelli's not a pornographer, so why is Henson? - posted by Graham

The central improbability of the Henson porngraphy case is the idea that paedophiles will download pictures of his nudes off the net and use them for gratification. Why are porn sites still one of the surest ways to make money... More

One party, but... - posted by Graham

Mal Brough favours amalgamation of the Liberal and National Parties, but only on the right conditions. Speaking today at the Queensland Media Club lunch Brough stressed that an amalgamation should only happen after proper input from the membership and if... More

My footnote in history - posted by Graham

I've only just started to plough through the proposed Liberal National Party constitution, but there is already one remarkable thing about it. It bans a very small number of us from membership of the new party. Under the definitions "Member"... More

Greene meets low hurdle - posted by Graham

I've been sent a copy of some of the Liberal Party's Agenda for its Convention this weekend. Never in the history of the Liberal party has an agenda arrived so late. Too bad if you actually wanted to research your... More

Phillip Adams on Henson - posted by Graham

Phillip Adams does a riff on some of the same themes about the Henson controversy that I attempted in this post. I have to admit it's the first Phillip Adams column I have read all the way through in decades,... More

Queensland Redistribution - posted by Graham

David Fraser is a recognised expert in Queensland elections and electoral boundaries, having been involved in most Liberal Party redistribution submissions since the 1970s. This is his take on the Queensland redistribution. Thanks to David for preparing it for the... More

Putting a vorpal blade to the Neo-Calvinists - posted by Graham

Censorship laws in Australia seem to have reverted to something pre-Don Chip. Although in the bad old days it was Queensland that had problems with naked women's breasts, including a visiting islander troop that had to dance wearing bras! Not... More

Another Young in print - posted by Graham

And blowing things up as well. Little sister Helene made the Cairns Post. She's been short-listed along with seven others for the USA Golden Hearts Award for Romance writing. SHE has blown up Circular Quay and even had a romance... More

Q&A and the Kevinator - posted by Graham

I couldn't help thinking watching Q&A that as a Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a good Opposition Leader, and that whatever his Mandarin speaking skills, he's a creditable Mandarin. Large numbers gushed in answer to every question, and at one... More

So you thought George Bush was an idiot - posted by Graham

Maybe he's smarter than Congress. According to Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but... More

A Schneid look at Aitkin - posted by Graham

Robyn Williams carried on his campaign to politicise ABC science last Sunday by broadcasting a response to Don Aitken's Ockham's Razor piece from Professor Stephen Schneider. He has never felt the need before to broadcast rebuttals of global warming enthusiasts.... More

Get ready to put your money where your mouth is - posted by Ronda Jambe

Australia has been a cornucopia, a near paradise of abundant food for most as long as most of us can recall. Droughts notwithstanding, our access to beautiful produce, fine meat and wonderful fish (not to mention great wine) has been... More

Better information on the Liberal National Party - posted by Graham

I have received better information on the Liberal National Party, so I've uploaded a few files. Make of them what you will. The major difference between what I was told, and what appears to be the case is that there... More

More flummery from Flannery - posted by Graham

Every country has 'em, but only in Australia would we make them Australian of the Year. We know how to celebrate our ratbags: Professor Flannery, who has written extensively on environmental issues, spoke at a business and sustainability conference in... More

Some Queensland Libs still having trouble with democracy - posted by Graham

According to The Courier Mail, and confirmed from sources, the Queensland Liberal State Council decided last night to bring their plebiscite on the amalgamation forward, and to reject calls to postpone thier convention. However, according to the Courier Mail, the... More

Cheap economically illiterate populism not the way to win next election - posted by Graham

Brendan Nelson's address-in-reply to the budget shows just how far away from finding the range on the government the Opposition is. While reducing fuel excise may be politically popular, it is short-sighted and will be wiped out by just a... More

Under the Moruya Moon (5) - posted by Ronda Jambe

Everything starts with ideas. Intellectuals are people who consider the world of ideas to be a real place. And maybe I spend more time in la-la land than most. But to have an idea and then see it take shape... More

Flegg labels McArdle plan undemocratic - posted by Graham

Queensland Shadow Treasurer Bruce Flegg weighed into the merger debated this morning sending this letter out to members of the Liberal Party. This is a significant split in the parliamentary party, and an indication of just how fraught attempts to... More

Too much information on the budget - posted by Graham

If the budget hasn't sent you to sleep yet, take two of these (they're podcasts, so you can lie down as well): Peter Anderson - Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bob Brown - Leader of the Australian Greens Ed... More

Due diligence - posted by Graham

In a rare show of cross party charity Southport Labor MP Peter Lawlor urged the National Party to be careful with their due diligence on the Queensland Liberals. Lawlor's immediate concern was the $1 million debt that the Liberal Party... More

Budget audio - posted by Graham

Courtesy of our friends at MPTV we have some audio of the treasurer's speech available. Budget Speech If you missed out on it the first time around, or want to here it again, just click on the link. If like... More

Good traditional Labor budget - posted by Graham

That's the traditional Beattie, Carr, Bracks, Rann, Gallup budgets that have been slowly strangling their respective states, giving rise to the famous blame game, where they try to compensate for the revenue they've squandered by putting the bite on the... More

Libs need $1 million dowry, Nats need an open marriage - posted by Graham

Just as well the Queensland National Party is well-heeled. Knowledgeable insiders say that the Queensland Liberal Party has a debt of $1 million which will need to be extinguished as part of any amalgamation. So dire is the situation that... More

Liberal President "dishonest" - Vice-President - posted by Graham

Liberal Party interim president Gary Spence has been accused of dishonestly misrepresenting the views of members of the party's state council, of fabrication and flagrant misrepresentation. One of the mysteries of reports of last Friday's Liberal Party State Council was... More

Liberal and National merger - over the falls again - posted by Graham

Lawrence Springborg has been spruiking a new conservative party for most of this year, but when we get to look at his bride, she's actually not new, she's 63 years old and calls herself the Liberal Party. She will have... More

Johnson forces rethink of global warming taxing strategies - posted by Graham

I made a few guesses in this blog post as to how Boris Johnson beat Red Ken Livingstone. The skeptical part of the blogosphere, as in Global Warming skeptics, have thrown their vaunted caution to the winds and embraced the... More

Nervous Nelson at the Brisbane Club - posted by Graham

Laser pointers may be endangering more things than aeroplanes landing at Australia's airports. Brendan Nelson might be another casualty with a jittery laser pointer in his hands showing just how nervous he was when addressing the Brisbane Club yesterday. This,... More

The blight that the ALP has become - posted by Ronda Jambe

Nearly every day some bright spark suggests in the letters to the editor that technology will save the world. One day the focus is on carbon capture, the next on GM foods. Desalinisation and nuclear energy are other scientific saviours.... More

How could climate sceptic Boris Johnson beat true believer Livingstone? - posted by Graham

Boris Johnson is a well-known climate sceptic, and fellow sceptics are pointing this out to suggest that his victory means that climate scepticism isn't a political handicap afterall. I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the UK local... More

Hospital pass - posted by Graham

First we have Wayne Swan promising a Robin Hood budget which will take from the rich and give to the poor. Then, almost simultaneously we have elite sportsmen in Australian football, rugby league, rugby union, cricket, swimming, netball and basketball... More

This time Chris wasn't Masters-full - posted by Ronda Jambe

What was this week's Four Corners all about? Chris Masters, an icon for investigative journalists in Australia, delivered a squishy program that was all fluff. Was it a travelogue about the gentrification of Harlem? Was it a very vague look... More